The Unmasking of Rudy Giuliani by the FDNY
Posted by StormWarning on 02 Sep 2007 at 10:01 pm | Tagged as: Current Affairs, Federal Policy, International Issues, National Security, Opinions, Social Issues
September 11, 2001 and the aftermath are indelibly etched in our
minds. Looking back on that history though, I didn’t know of the chasm
that now exists between NY’s Bravest (FDNY) and Rudy Giuliani. The
unmasking is as unsettling as it is revealing. So, it’s time to debunk the "Rudy"
myth…some may call it the "Swift Boating" of Giuliani, but I don’t agree. Given no sound reason to "make this stuff up," I find what I am about to write, very troubling…indeed. And I believe that America, especially Republicans, need to read about this, before the Rudy train leaves the station.
I watched the Towers crumble, and then I saw the black smoke rise less than 30 miles to the west, against a crystal clear blue sky. And I watched then Mayor Giuliani
lead by example, taking the city out of the rubble and bringing it back
to its feet. I watched as he attended funerals of the "fallen." And I
listened to his voice tremble with emotion as each of NY’s Finest
(NYPD) and NY’s Bravest (FDNY) who perished was buried. I’ve actually written (and said) that Rudy, regardless of whatever other baggage he carries, was a hero during the tragedy of September 11th. Now, I am not so sure. I simply
didn’t know (or hadn’t read the accounts) of the New York City
Firefighters who now step forward to speak against Rudy Giluiani.
Before recounting the FDNY’s flaming of Rudy, let us begin with the Giuliani Campaign’s refutation of the video tape that will follow…New DVD Criticizes Former NYC Mayor - Giuliani’s Campaign Calls Video ‘Mockumentary’ (July 12, 2007)
Calling the video a "mockumentary," Giuliani campaign spokesman Michael McKeon said, "The union leadership makes Michael Moore look like Edward R. Murrow."
Former New York firefighter Lee Ielpi, whose son died on Sept. 11, and former Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Richard Sheirer appeared with McKeon, calling the video full of "half-truths."
"I was there. I saw it. I experienced it," said Ielpi, who worked at ground zero for the nine-month cleanup. "I’m not going to let lies like this go."
Well, okay, but when you look at this video and some of the other material that follows, you may see that the "complainers" are bi-partisan.
Complete Video From IAFF Ripping Giuliani
You will also find this video among the series of entries on the Rudy Giuliani Urban Legend website (more from this website below).
Rudy Giuliani’s Five Big Lies About 9/11 (admittedly from the Village Voice - August 7, 2007) — ignoring Rudy’s obvious unconservative or non-Christian fundamentalist attributes, the religious right appears as gripped by the Giuliani story as the rest of the country. So let me now review some of the" uncoverings" of the Emperor’s new clothes ala Rudy Giuliani…
Giuliani isn’t shy about reminding audiences of those heady days. In fact he hyperventilates about them on the stump, making his credentials in the so-called war on terror the centerpiece of his campaign. His claims, meanwhile, have been met with a media deference so total that he’s taken to complimenting "the good job it is doing covering the campaign." Opponents, too, haven’t dared to question his terror credentials, as if doing so would be an unpatriotic bow to Osama bin Laden.
And here, according to the Village Voice are the "Lies" of the Rudy Myth of September 11th.
1. ‘I think the thing that distinguishes me on terrorism is, I have more experience dealing with it.’ In a July appearance at a Maryland synagogue, Giuliani sketched out his
counterterrorism biography, a resume that happens to be rooted in
falsehood.
"As United States Attorney, I investigated the Leon Klinghoffer murder by Yasir Arafat," he told the Jewish audience…
…Victoria Toensing, the deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department in Washington who filed a criminal complaint in the Lauro investigation, says that no one in Giuliani’s office "was involved at all." Jay Fischer, the Klinghoffer family attorney who spearheaded a 12-year lawsuit against the PLO, says he "never had any contact" with Giuliani or his office…
And so, part two of this comes in the context of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, about which Rudy said…"Then, as mayor of New York," Giuliani’s July speech continued, "I got
elected right after the 1993 Islamic terrorist attack . . . I set up
emergency plans for all the different possible attacks we could have.
We had drills and exercises preparing us for sarin gas and anthrax,
dirty bombs."
In fact, Giuliani was oblivious to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing throughout his mayoralty…Giuliani met for the first time with Bill Bratton, who would ultimately become his police commissioner. The lengthy taped meeting was one of several policy sessions he had with unofficial advisers. The bombing never came up; neither did terrorism…when…he…launched a search for a new police commissioner… Three members of the screening panel that Giuliani named to conduct the search, and four of the candidates interviewed for the job, said later that the bombing and terrorism were never mentioned…
Illustration by John Kascht
There is more…U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White and the four assistants who prosecuted the
1993 bombing said they were never asked to brief Giuliani about
terrorism, though all of the assistants knew Giuliani personally and
had actually been hired by him when he was the U.S. Attorney…
The 1995 sarin-gas drill that Giuliani cited in his July speech was also prophetic, anticipating many of the breakdowns that hampered the city’s 9/11 response. The drill was such a disaster that a follow-up exercise was cancelled to avoid embarrassment. More than a hundred of the first responders rushed in so recklessly that they were "killed" by exposure to the gas. Radio communications were described in the city’s own report as "abysmal," with police and fire "operating on different frequencies." The command posts were located much too close to the incident. All three failings would be identified years later in official reviews of the 9/11 response.
Beyond unbelievable if true (again, no reason to believe fabrication of such factual events).
2. ‘I don’t think there was anyplace in the country, including the
federal government, that was as well prepared for that attack as New
York City was in 2001.’
This assertion flies in the face of all three studies of the city’s
response—the 9/11 Commission, the National Institute of Standards &
Technology (NIST), and McKinsey & Co., the consulting firm hired by
the Bloomberg administration.
- didn’t create the OEM until three years after the 1993 bombing
- didn’t open the OEM’s new emergency
command center until the end of 1999
- the initial rationale for OEM was "non-law enforcement events"
it’s hardly surprising that the OEM was anything but "invaluable" on 9/11. Sam Caspersen, one of the principal authors of the 9/11 Commission’s chapter on the city’s response, says that "nothing was happening at OEM" during the 102 minutes of the attack that had any direct impact on the city’s "rescue/evacuation operation." A commission staff statement found that, even prior to the evacuation of the OEM command center at 7 World Trade an hour after the first plane hit, the agency "did not play an integral role" in the response.
So…going further (and more in summary):
3. Don’t blame me for 7 WTC, Rudy says. In response to his
critics’ most damning sound bite, Giuliani is attempting to blame a
once-valued aide for the decision to put his prized, $61 million
emergency-command center in the World Trade Center, an obvious
terrorist target. The 1997 decision had dire consequences on 9/11, when
the city had to mobilize a response without any operational center.
"My director of emergency management recommended 7 WTC" as
"the site that would make the most sense," Giuliani told Chris
Wallace’s Fox News Channel show in May, pinpointing Jerry Hauer as the
culprit.
Wallace confronted Giuliani, however, with a 1996 Hauer memo
recommending that the bunker be sited at MetroTech in Brooklyn, close
to where the Bloomberg administration eventually built one…
4. ‘Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us.’ Giuliani
blames what he calls Bill Clinton’s "decade of denial" for the mess
we’re in, and uses it to tarnish the rest of Clinton’s party. "Don’t
react, kind of let things go, kind of act the way Clinton did in the
’90s" is his favorite way of characterizing the Democratic response to
the threat of terrorism. "We were attacked at Khobar Towers, Kenya,
Tanzania, 17 of our sailors were killed on the USS Cole, and the
United States government, under then-president Clinton, did not
respond," Giuliani told the rabidly anti-Clinton audience at Pat
Robertson’s Regent University. "It was a big mistake to not recognize
that the 1993 bombing was a terrorist act and an act of war," he added.
"Bin Laden declared war on us. We didn’t hear it. I thought it was
pretty clear at the time, but a lot of people didn’t see it, couldn’t
see it."
This is naked revisionism—and not just because of his own well
established, head-in-the-sand indifference to the 1993 bombing. It’s as
unambiguously partisan as his claim that on 9/11, he looked to the sky,
saw the first fighter jets flying over the city well after the attack,
and thanked God that George W. Bush was president. Bob Kerrey, the
former Democratic senator who sat on the 9/11 Commission, put it
fairly: "Prior to 9/11, no elected official did enough to reduce the
threat of Al Qaeda. Neither political party covered itself in glory."
Giuliani’s lifelong friend Louis Freeh, the former FBI head who has
endorsed him for president, wrote in his 2005 autobiography that "the
nation’s fundamental approach to Osama bin Laden and his ilk was no
different after the inauguration of January 21, 2001, than it had been
before…"
5. ‘Every effort was made by Mayor Giuliani and his staff to ensure the safety of all workers at Ground Zero.’ So
read a Giuliani campaign statement in June, responding to a chorus of
questions about the mayor’s responsibility for the respiratory plague
that threatens the health of tens of thousands of workers at the World
Trade Center site, apparently already having killed some.
The statement pointed a finger at then-EPA administrator
Christine Todd Whitman, issuing a list of the many times that "Whitman
assured New Yorkers the air was safe." Instead of also detailing the
many times Giuliani echoed Whitman—for example, "the air is safe and
acceptable," he said on September 28—the campaign cited several Fire
Department "briefings" about "incident action plans" for the use of
respirators, suggesting that the city had tried to get responders to
protect themselves from the toxins at Ground Zero…
I must admit that I’ve known most of this information, but never really put it all together in this manner. Back to the Rudy Giuliani Urban Legend website.
First, the IAFF Letter
Regarding Rudy Giuliani
"What
Giuliani showed following 9/11 is a disgraceful lack of respect for the
fallen and those brothers still searching for them. He valued the money and
gold and wanted the [World Trade Center] site cleared before he left office
at the end of 2001 more than he valued the lives and memories of those
lost."
As for the upcoming commemoration of the Sixth Memorial Year of the September 11th attacks…
Rudy 9/11 plans ripped (August 29, 2007)
Rudy Giuliani has never missed a 9/11 anniversary at Ground Zero,
but his plans to attend this year’s ceremony sparked a fierce debate
yesterday over the line between piety and politics.
The former mayor, now a Republican candidate for President, has made
9/11 a central theme of his campaign. He will read a poem or some other
historical quote at this year’s sixth anniversary ceremony, officials
said yesterday.
The announcement led some firefighters to complain that Giuliani’s
presence would politicize the event, even as they defended the right of
Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat running for President, to be there
because of her past help in securing benefits for firefighters and
other responders.
"For him to come back to this hallowed ground, and use the site and
the families as props, is disgraceful," said John McDonnell, president
of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, a union that has actively
opposed Giuliani’s presidential bid…
Some 9/11 groups want Giuliani silent at ceremony (August 27, 2007)
Families of September 11 victims and emergency responders raised alarms
on Wednesday that former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudy
Giuliani might politicize the sixth anniversary memorial of the attacks…
"Families and first responders are outraged and call for this speaking invitation to be rescinded and insist that politics be kept out of the 9/11 anniversary ceremony," said a statement by four September 11 groups.
"Rudy Giuliani should attend in silence with other invited guests."
I now have an additional reason, I fear, for being a charter member of the Republicans Against Rudy Giuliani Committee. He has a hair-trigger temper…his people judgment is quite questionable, and now…well, it seems as though he has been fabricating the Rudy "9-11" Myth.
I just hope that the rest of the Republican voters come to their senses in enough time.
Who will be our next President? I hope its not Rudy, I pray that its not Hillary. For more on the Democratic side of this circus, Right Truth reveals more about John Edwards in John Edwards wants mandatory preventive health care. For even more on the Democratic side of this circus, Snooper at Take Our Country Back writes about Senator Clinton, Clinton Bills Herself as Agent Of Change. More on political confusion from Dragon Lady’s Den (another Texan) in her article,
IN THE MIND OF A CONSERVATIVE LIBERAL.
Current Affairs, Federal Policy, International Issues, National Security, Opinions, Social Issues
Bush, Rice, and Gates excellent adventure
United States President George W. Bush, along with Secretary of State Condi Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, flew directly into Anbar Province Iraq today. He is meeting with Gen. David Petraeus, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Prime Minister Nouri al-…
Very comprehensive article. I was listening to Sean Hannity in the car several weeks back. (No I don’t normally listen to him, he bloviates, interrupts his ‘guests’, and is overall rude.)
He was interviewing Rudy about being down at ground zero. Many were complaining about having various diseases from breathing the junk in the air down there. I had to cringe when Rudy said “I was down there as much as any of these folks. I’m OK. I don’t have any disease.”
Well, sure, he was down there walking folks through to show them around. BUT he was NOT down there digging in that crap and breathing it like the rescuers and construction folks were. And everybody is different, everybody is affected differently.
For him to make the comparison was just appalling to me.
Debbie, as you, or anyone else who has read this blog for any period of time knows, I have been opposed to Rudy Giluiani’s candidacy for President from the beginning. I started with the simple knowledge of his hair trigger temper (a bad quality in these times) along with his poor judgment of other people (see his support of Bernie Kerik) as disqualifications.
Until now, I had taken it as fact that his actions during and after the attacks was heroic. But I can’t reject the words of the FDNY. And I can’t reject the reports as a “mockumentary.”
I really hope that the Republican Party wakes up before its too late.
You keep writing that the religious right is backing Rudy Giuliani. I didn’t believe it when you wrote it previously, and I don’t believe it now. If anything, religious voters are rejecting Giuliani in large numbers, primarily for his stance on social issues, but also for other reasons such as immigration. Whatever it is you’re seeing, I’m not seeing it. At best religious voters see Giuliani as only the best of a choice between bad and worse. They don’t see him as a “savior”.
I watched the IAFF video. I was unimpressed. I know a bit about radio, being an amateur radio operator, so let’s deconstruct this video’s claims with respect to malfunctioning radios.
1. The repeater system didn’t work because the FDNY didn’t press the right button. See the 9/11 Commission Report, page 297.
2. In at least one case, the volume on one FDNY chief’s radio may have been turned down and so he never heard what was transmitted. See page 298.
3. The FDNY had never tested the repeater system prior to September 11th, despite operating controls being installed at their request in the Spring of 2000. See page 283.
4. The repeater in the South Tower was working on channel 7 (and may have been working on others, but for the button not being pressed). But most of the FDNY that responded to the South Tower weren’t using that channel. See page 300.
5. Some firefighters were on the wrong channel or didn’t have radios. See page 322.
None of this has anything to do with a malfunctioning radio.
The report mentions two problems with the radio: 1) limited capabilities in high rise environments and 2) lack of frequency coordination. See page 320. There is no way to solve #1 without using a repeater system, and even that will be of limited use. All 2-way radio systems using UHF/VHF are going to suffer this problem, because it’s the nature of the radio frequency.
Radio communications at VHF or UHF frequencies, the frequencies used by first responders as well as ARES/RACES (emergency communications) personnel, are line of sight. The entire purpose of using a repeater is to connect operational positions that are not line of sight to each other (imagine the repeater in the middle of two operating positions that cannot reach each other). Because of the shorter wavelengths, communications at UHF/VHF frequencies requires smaller antennas and equipment, is less likely to be interfered with by other power sources or interfere with other communications. This advantage is why these frequencies are used by first responders and other emcomm personnel.
It is not therefore a surprise that radios wouldn’t operate well with several stories of concrete and steel in between operational positions. This is Radio 101. This was anticipated when the repeater system was installed. But repeaters require electricity and intact physical structures to operate. I was unable to determine from the report whether the repeater system itself was compromised due to the physical impact of the aircraft collision. Even if that button had been pressed, there may have been damage to the physical structure of the repeater system, which had to have been installed throughout the towers.
The second reason for the failure of FDNY communications as stated in the Report was the lack of frequency coordination, i.e., too many responders trying to use the same frequency at once. See page 299. This was a problem both within the FDNY as well as interagency. In my opinion, this is the primary reason for the breakdown of FDNY communications.
Frequency coordination is the reason that experienced radio operators don’t use CB (Citizen’s Band) radio – there is no frequency coordination. So many people will be using the band at the same time in an emergency that the entire band can become useless. For this same reason, the FRS (Family Radio Service) and GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) services on the very popular walkie talkies available at any electronics store will also have limited utility.
It’s much easier to solve this second problem – frequency coordination - because you are working within the limits of radiowave propagation (the first problem) in a way that ensures successful communications. But it’s clear that this was not adequately addressed by the FDNY at its highest levels. As the Report makes clear on page 320, “Significant shortcomings within the FDNY’s command and control capabilities were painfully exposed on September 11.”
Comparisons were made between the FDNY and the NYPD. The Report states that the FDNY understandably didn’t have the same experience responding to and coordinating large events that the NYPD had. See page 319. So the FDNY had less experience to draw on in coordinating events of this magnitude.
Nevertheless, despite lack of frequency coordination, some firefighters in the North Tower heard the instruction to evacuate. See page 307. At least 24 out of 32 FDNY companies actually received the order to evacuate. See page 322.
The frequency coordination problem was also an interagency issue. The report mentions at page 284-5, that one of the things that the OEM was supposed to do was coordinate between agencies, but that the FDNY and PDNY each considered themselves operationally autonomous. The kind of turf wars that the Report alludes to is not helpful when attempting to coordinate multiple agencies.
Here’s the bottom line: The Report states on page 323 that “we conclude that the technical failure of FDNY radios, while a contributing factor, was not the primary cause of the many firefighter fatalities in the North Tower.” Frankly, given my experience in amateur radio communications, this was obvious before I ever read that far in the Report.
The problems with the radio were not the result of a no bid contract, as the IAFF video suggests. It has to do with not a single fire chief being curious enough to know how the radio system in the WTC worked ahead of time, what the limits of the radio communication were, or how to coordinate frequencies. That’s a failure of leadership of the FDNY – and of its union leadership as well.
One final word: I’m not voting for Giuliani. I never planned to do so. I don’t like him either for a number of reasons. But the IAFF video has the stench of a hit piece by union leadership that can’t accept responsibility for their own shortcomings. Or perhaps union leadership pulling for some other candidate, perhaps a NY Democrat. And I like that even less than Giuliani.
AP, perhaps I am being misled by articles I read wherein it is written that the conservative right is supporting Rudy like this one: RUDY WINNING OVER ‘RIGHT’ PEOPLE
Now, as for the interoperability issues in NY City during the September 11th attacks and in the WTC collapses, I know that you and I have had these discussions since 2001 when we first met.
I’m not so sure that the issue is whether or not the IAFF video is totally on target, but that the FDNY is in an uproar over what it sees as Rudy’s misrepresentation. I have seen other indications of Rudy’s misstatements that are not union originated.
It might not be a great thing to admit, but frankly, I’m not paying as much attention the last 10 days to things as I usually do because of my “day job.” Not sure when I see the “day job” giving me much slack for a while.
Interesting article, but in my opinion, it misses the mark by a very wide margin. I don’t think he’s actually winning the “right” over. With every statement he makes, I think he puts more and more distance between himself and conservatives, particularly as his record becomes more widely known.
I had to laugh at the college students. Anyone who thinks Giuliani is going to appoint strict constructionist judges or preserve pro-life gains hasn’t been paying attention for several decades. Well, they are college students…
Frequency coordination and interoperability are not the same issue. Interoperability usually involves multiples governmental agencies being able to talk to one another on multiple diverse radio systems using different frequencies. Frequency coordination needs to be done WITHIN a government agency on its own radio system (usually using several frequencies in a band) as well as between different agencies. The FDNY did not coordinate its own radio frequencies and this was its biggest problem.
I’m not denying that Rudy’s made misrepresentations. I don’t doubt that he has. I just didn’t think that the IAFF gave a fair presentation of the facts.
I know how it is about “day jobs”. Hang in there!
Well, I can only hope that Rudy will not be the nominee.